CyclingFans: Wednesday's Vuelta a Espana Stage 17 departs Santander at 12:10pm CET (6:10am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Fuente Dé at around 5:40pm CET (11:40am U.S. Eastern). Vuelta live streaming video should get underway at around 4:00pm CET (10:00am U.S. Eastern).

VeloNation: Intermediate sprints give Marianne Vos the race lead in uncharacteristically calm weather.

VeloNews: The Vuelta a España caught its collective breath Tuesday after an action-packed, thrilling two weeks of racing.

VeloNation: Two opportunities left to overcome toughest opponent.

Races & Results.
Vuelta a España -  Aug 18 - Sept 9 (Stages & Results),
Giro Toscana -  Aug 29 - Sept 2 (Stages & Results),
Mountain Bike Championships - Aug 31 - Sept 9 (Races),
Tour de l'Avenir - Aug 16 - Sept 1 (Stages & Results),
CyclingNews: More...

CyclingNews: All 181 riders who made it atop the Cuitu Negru summit finish in Monday's stage 16 of the Vuelta a España had one thing in common: they had just climbed one of the steepest climbs in recent Grand Tour history, and they certainly didn't enjoy it.

CyclingWeekly: Brit Chris Froome was one of the hot pre-race favourites going into this year's Vuelta a Espana. Having placed second in the race last year, then second at the Tour de France in July Froome had proved his credentials as a Grand Tour racer.

Off The Beaten Path A “pre-ride” is done by the ride organizers to make sure the route sheet is accurate, instead of relying solely on sometimes-erroneous maps and outdated satellite images: Bridge out? Road construction? Only cafe out of business? We try to make sure that the roads are passable and that the ride can proceed as planned.

BikeRadar: The road wheel market is already enormously saturated with countless choices all claiming to offer some combination of improved performance, better durability, lower cost or any number of other metrics.

EuroSport: Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez edged further ahead in the Vuelta a Espana after a thrilling finale to a gruelling stage 16, won by Italy's Dario Cataldo from a break.

AP:  It surely would be have been more useful for his sport if Tyler Hamilton hadn't waited until this week to tell us what he knows about doping in the Lance Armstrong era.

CyclingNews: Former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans has ended his 2012 season. After dropping out of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado ten days ago, the BMC rider is back at his home in Italy and waiting for further test results to assess his state of health. Evans has been suffering from a sore right knee.

CyclingNews: “I didn’t have fun on the Tour,” Wiggins said, according to La Dernière Heure. “At the Tour everything is so stressful. Everybody was only talking about Twitter, doping and suspicion. After the Tour, I felt relieved."

CyclingNews: Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) may be focussing hard on the Vuelta a España, but the 29-year-old Madrileño says that he will be looking to a strong end of season, too, with the world championship time trial, road race and Il Lombardia (the Tour of Lombardy) all on his program.

BicycleTetailer:  Specialized has expanded its recall of some Tektro aero brake levers included with its S-Works Shiv framesets and bikes.

BikeRumor: New CF3 Pro Carbon Seatpost uses a split leaf spring design to provide up to 25-30mm of movement depending on rider weight and impact forces. This is meant for road bikes. It was developed in conjunction with Canyon Bikes, which showed a similar seatpost last year, but Ergon’s rep said this one has its own unique performance characteristics.

VeloNation: Governing body waiting for evidence; ‘not afraid’ to punish big names.

InnerRing: Like many cyclists he has a nickame and it’s “Purito”. It sort of means “clean” in Spanish, a diminutive term… but that’s not the origin of his name. Instead it’s because he smoked his team mates on a training camp.

BikeRumor: Schmolke has reinvented one of the key aspects of the drop road handlebar that’s been a standard as long we’ve known. The new FullOver handlebar tapers from a 31.8 OD clamp section to a 27.5mm diameter by the time it gets to the first bend. The thicker 27.5mm diameter continues all the way to the end of the bars. For reference, standard is 24mm.

FatCyclist: 2012 Park City Point 2 Point Race Report, Part I: High Drama, High Up.

Lee Rodgers: Mind games on the last day of the East Java tour.

VeloNation: Governing body has “turned it into a Mickey Mouse sport” claims former World champion.

CyclingNews: Kurt-Asle Arvesen has conceded that he is beginning to harbour some doubts about his former CSC manager Bjarne Riis following allegations printed in Tyler Hamilton’s newly-published autobiography.

CXMagazine: Rotor Bike Components showed off a nearly-production ready version of its long-awaited Rotor Power Crank at Eurobike 2012, and based on its features, the power meter crankset just might be the ultimate power-measuring device for cyclocross racers.

Lennard Zinn: "It is true that the rim and tire and tube don’t heat up from braking. Another is certainly braking in the wet. Yet another (albeit less of a big deal than a few years ago), is braking performance in all conditions with carbon rims, and so is eliminating the concern of softened rim walls with carbon clinchers."

BikeRumor: Giro’s new Empire shoe was built with input from Taylor Phinney. His track background strung laces into the project, but they use the same carbon sole as the SLX high performance road shoes. They’re designed for track or time trials, but Phinney used them in most stages of the Tour of Colorado. And the Giro prologue. And the Olympics.

BikeRadar: It is a rare case of trickle-up technology.

BikeRumor: The 26″ wheelset comes in at 1,251g. Compare that to over 1,900g for the stock Spank Spike 28 Race wheelset with the same rims and you see why we love Tune. This weight’s likely with standard QR, but their hubs are available with various thru axle options, including Maxle and Syntace X12.

CompetitiveCyclist: Do What You Hate, Hate What You Do.

VeloNation: Danish Cycling Union chairman concerned about Hamilton’s statements in new book.